Metra to Charge for Bicycles?

Does anyone here (ATA?) work with Metra or have access to information in their pipeline?

As I loaded my bike on to the train this morning, my conductor said that in the summer, Metra may be floating the idea of charging riders using a bicycle a 'bicycle fee' that would  be in addition to the regular fare. He says that since a bicycle and its user effectively take up 3-4 spaces, Metra is looking to recoup the costs. 

Is there any truth in this? I'd hate for it to happen, as I use a combo of bike/train to get to work in Glenview. I could do the 15 miles one way in the summer, but would be less likely to do it when it's super cold.

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Permalink Reply by WillG on February 12, 2013 at 3:45am

In my humble experience, Metra has never had a healthy attitude toward cyclists.

They only let us on the train during off peak hours when those seats would not necessarily be taken anyway. It isn't like people are being turned away from the train because there is a guy whose bike is taking up 3 seats. Are they going to start charging people with suitcases a fee as well? How about people with strollers?

Yarg, sorry, Metra is my touchy bicycling subject. There is so much potential with bike + regional rail. Metra just doesn't want to play along.

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on February 12, 2013 at 3:46am

Please do not get me started on strollers. 

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on February 12, 2013 at 4:07am

I would gladly pay a fee during peak hours where bikes are currently not allowed. Although, different rules need to apply for different lines. The BNSF compared to the NCS, for example. Ride the BNSF line during rush hour and you'll be hard pressed for a seat. Ride NCS, and there's plenty of room. The ideal solution would be a dedicated space for bikes, but for a bike to take up four seats during rush hour when it's already difficult to find a seat isn't very fair to other riders.

This is the reason for the ban on bikes, however, during those hours. To charge during off-peak hours, when those seats would be empty anyway, is ridiculous. I propose a fee during rush hour, and free in off-peak times. That way, we are actually gaining something.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on February 12, 2013 at 4:09am

+1  And ginormous suitcases.

Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:

Please do not get me started on strollers. 

Permalink Reply by WillG on February 12, 2013 at 4:12am

This is a great idea but I don't see it working during rush hour. Too many people in the way in my experience on the NW line.

Ideally Metra would have a "bike car" with specifically designed, easy to access bike storage areas.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

I would gladly pay a fee during peak hours where bikes are currently not allowed. Although, different rules need to apply for different lines. The BNSF compared to the NCS, for example. Ride the BNSF line during rush hour and you'll be hard pressed for a seat. Ride NCS, and there's plenty of room. The ideal solution would be a dedicated space for bikes, but for a bike to take up four seats during rush hour when it's already difficult to find a seat isn't very fair to other riders.

This is the reason for the ban on bikes, however, during those hours. To charge during off-peak hours, when those seats would be empty anyway, is ridiculous. I propose a fee during rush hour, and free in off-peak times. That way, we are actually gaining something.

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on February 12, 2013 at 4:14am

Well, my thinking is - if you're going to penalize cyclists like this, you might as well start doing the same for wheelchaired or handicapped people, as they take up more than once seat as well. (I'm not actually serious.) Of course they wouldn't do that, because they'd have ADA people up their ass. We cyclists have nobody to speak up for us.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on February 12, 2013 at 4:20am

Unfortunately, on the Rock Island, due to stealth shrinkage of service, those seats on off-peak trains often aren't "empty anyway."  Metra has reduced the number of open cars on many of its off-peak trains, so that those trains are often quite crowded, especially on weekends. 

On all lines except the Metra Electric, the number of allowed bikes listed in the train schedule is based on 5 bikes per car times the number of accessible cars that will theoretically be in that trainset.  Guess what, folks? A lot of those numbers are lies.  On the Rock Island, they say 15, based on 3 accessible cars.  Most Rock Island trainsets (even in rush hour) don't have 3 accessible cars.  Looks like they've shifted them to other lines, giving us the shaft. 

Then there's the matter of how many cars are open to passengers.  On a typical Rock Island off-peak train, it's now only 1 or 2.  The number of total cars and accessible cars varies by Metra line and run, but on some of our lines, it's not what it was 3 or 4 years ago.

I'm starting to research and a write a Streetsblog Chicago piece on the issue of bike access on reverse commute and off-peak trains.  I'd be very interested in hearing about each of your experiences with it.  I'll be posting a discussion topic with a survey link later.  If you regularly ride more than one Metra line and find that your experiences with bike access are very different on each of those lines, I'd encourage you to fill out a separate survey for each line to provide more detail.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

I would gladly pay a fee during peak hours where bikes are currently not allowed. Although, different rules need to apply for different lines. The BNSF compared to the NCS, for example. Ride the BNSF line during rush hour and you'll be hard pressed for a seat. Ride NCS, and there's plenty of room. The ideal solution would be a dedicated space for bikes, but for a bike to take up four seats during rush hour when it's already difficult to find a seat isn't very fair to other riders.

This is the reason for the ban on bikes, however, during those hours. To charge during off-peak hours, when those seats would be empty anyway, is ridiculous. I propose a fee during rush hour, and free in off-peak times. That way, we are actually gaining something.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on February 12, 2013 at 4:25am

If it's a choice between free off-peak bike access being unavailable due to lack of space (as I described above) and paying $2-3 so that more accessible cars will be open and available for use, I'd pay the $2-3.  The current situation isn't working - at least not on the lines I most often ride (Rock Island, BNSF, UP-N, UP-NW or other).

If they charge us for bikes, it shouldn't be full fare, since we can stack several bikes if the space is available to us.

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on February 12, 2013 at 4:30am

Anne - that's what I told the conductor. I'd be happy to pay a monthly surcharge, but having to pay $5 per ride - $10 per day is outrageous.

Permalink Reply by Cheryl on February 12, 2013 at 4:39am

+1 more. Straying off topic but I find it deeply irritating that on days that CTA bans bikes completely (e.g. 4th of July), strollers are still ok.

Anne Alt 2-10 said:

+1  And ginormous suitcases.

Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:

Please do not get me started on strollers. 

Permalink Reply by Richard on February 12, 2013 at 4:53am

And how would this apply to folding bikes which consume no more seating space than a suitcase?

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on February 12, 2013 at 5:00am

Metra has space for luggage – it's the metal bars in between the rows on the second floor.

It's the ladder-looking thing in the middle of the photo below:



AM 9.5 said:

Given that Metra appears to view its chief mission as home-to-work-to-home transport, I think it's far-fetched to expect Metra to provide dedicated space for bikes or luggage.  They've configured the train cars to carry as many people as reasonably possible.  Not saying that's right, especially since Metra tries to market itself as something greater, especially on weekends.

 
Will G - 10mi said:

Are they going to start charging people with suitcases a fee as well? How about people with strollers?

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